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The Scriptural Reason why the Rebellion has not been Suppressed 



A S E BM O N I 



PREACHED BEFORE 



THE CITIZENS OF MANSFIELD, 



On the National Fast-Day, August 4, 1864, 



REV. THOS. K. DAVIS 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MANSFIELD. 



MANSFIELD. 

PRINTED BY 0. T. MYERS & BRO., MANBFIELD HERALD OFFICE. 
1864. 



'Ji 



,bfr 



^ „ _ _ Mansfikld, August 4, 1864. 

Eov. Thos. K. Davis, " 

Dear Sir .-—The undersigned, a committee appointed for that purpose, 
by the large and highly interested audience convened at Sturges Hall, on this 
National Fast Day, respectfully request you to furnish for publication, a copy 
of the Sermon delivered by you on that occasion. 
Yours, &c. 

BENJAMIN QASS, Chairman. 

C. L. AVERY, 

N. S. REED, 

JACOB EMMINGER, 

J. PURDY, 

H. COLBY, 

J. COBEAN. 

Mansfikld, O., August 4, 1864. 
MassRS. Bknj. Gass, C. L. Avbry, and others. 

Gentlemen : — The Sermon delivered at Sturges Hall to-day, was prepar- 
ed without a thought of its being requested for publication. Although it 
possesses the merit of being an honest effort to serve the cause of God and 
our country, I am sensible that it does not possess the literary attractions 
which arc desirable in a published discourse. But in the hope that, such as 
it is, it may do good, I comply with your request, and I beg leave, through 
you, gentlemen, to return thanks to the large and highly respectable assem- 
bly convened on the occasion for the honor they have done me. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

THOS. K. DAVIS. 



SERMON. 



IIos. 5:4'- They will not frame their doings to turn unto their 
God. 15 v. I will go and return to my place, till they 
acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their 
affliction they will seek me early." 

The book in whicli these passages occur is a collection of prophecies, 
given forth by Hosca, an in.spired servant of the Lord. He lived in the 
eighth century B. C, and at a time, as we learn from the contents of the 
book, when sin greatly abounded among the people of Israel and Judah. His 
mission was to denounce their sins, to warn them of the consequenoes of 
their continuing to disregard the commandments of God, and to call 
them to repentance. He speaks in the name of the Almighty. It is 
Jehovah himself speaking through his servant. The complaint brought 
against the offending people is, that they will not frame their doings t© 
turn to their God; and he threatens to forsake them till they do 
repent. " 1 will go and return unto my place, till they acknowledge 
their ofiense, and seek my ftice." God knew that they would have sor- 
row enough, when he should cease to favor them; and he knew also 
that when calamity and distress should come upon them, they would 
be the more likely to seek their God. " In their affliction they will 
seek me early." 

It was the remark of a profound thinker, Samuel Taylor Cole- 
ridge, that, " as the New Testament sets forth the means and condi- 
tions of spiritual convalescence, with all the laws of conscience relative 
to our future state and permanent being, so does the Old Testament 
present to us the elements of public prudence, instructing us in the true 
causes, the surest preventives, and the only cure of public evils. The 
authorities of Raleigh, Clarendon and Milton must at least exempt me 
from the blame of singularity, if, undeterred by the contradictory 



charges of paradoxy from one party, and old fasliloned prejudices from 
the other, I persist in avowing my conviction that the inspired poets 
historians and sententiaries of the Jews are the clearest teachers of 
political economy j in short, that their writings are the Statesman's 
Best Manual, not only as containing the first principles and ultimate 
grounds of state policy, whether in prosperous times, or in those of dan' 
ger and distress, but as supplying likewise the details of their application, 
and as being a full and spacious repository of precedents and facts in 
proof." 

This is a very important thought, when we remember that nations, 
as well as individuals, are subjects of the moral government of God, 
The principles of morality are as applicable in the one case as in the 
other. Virtue is not one thing in an individual, and a different thing 
in a nation. God deals with nations and with individuals on precisely 
the same principles. Each is the subject of his law. Each is held 
responsible for every violation of that law. And while the consequences 
of individual transgression run into eternity, and the punishment of 
national iniquity is necessarily inflicted in the present world, the ground 
of punishment, and the principles on which justice is administered, are 
the same in both cases. 

Repentance is what the unchangeable decree of God calls for in the 
case of the nation which has trampled on his law, as well as of every 
individual who has sinned. When the Almighty has been displeased 
by the conduct of a nation, it is plain that individuals of that nation 
have sinned, and that personal repentance is necessarily connected with 
national reformation, and that without the former, the latter cannot take 
place. When the people composing a nation begin individually to turn 
unto the Lord, and to do those things which are acceptable to him, 
we can see that there must soon be a change in the spirit, character and 
conduct of the nation, which will be pleasing in his sight. 

The means by which repentance is brought about is the word of God, 
or the truth in relation to duty and transgression, to rewards and pun- 
ishments, applied with divine force to the consciences of men. It is a 
question of vast importance, "How shall we repent?" This question is 
answered in one of the passages before us. The way to repent, or to 
turn unto God, is to frame one's doings to that end. When men would 
accomplish anything whatever requiring the use of means, they frame 
their doings, or direct their conduct to the proposed end. The same 
course must be pursued in turning unto God. A sinner cannot bring him- 
self into a penitent state of mind by willing it, or by simply resolving 



to repent. It is right, and it is necessary, to form such a resolution. It 
may fix a man's mind on repenting, and be the beginning of a series of 
mental exercises, which will result in his repentance. If a man desires 
to be in any particular frame of mind, he does not find himself in that 
frame, as soon as he has entertained the desire, or formed the determi- 
nation. He finds himself using the means — putting forth the necessary 
volition and efforts — in order to get himself into it; he finds his 
thoughts employed about those objects which have a tendency to pro- 
duce the desired frame of mind.* Thus, if a man wishes to revive in 
his heart a lively affection for an absent friend, the affection does not 
instantly glow in his breast. It may exist there quickly, if he wishes 
it, and if he employs the means of producing it, but he must give some 
thoughts to the absent one's image and excellences. So in respect to 
repentance. It cannot be experienced by the mind in any other way, 
than by the mind's being exercised about those things which have a 
tendency to excite repentance. There are objects revealed in Scripture, 
and facts made known there, which the mind must contemplate, and 
interest itself in, before the command to repent will bo obeyed. To 
consider seriously and attentively who God is, what his attributes are, 
what the nature of his moral government, what our relations to him, 
and how our opinions and conduct coincide with his revealed will — this 
is to use the moans which, with God's blessing, leads to repentance. 
David said, "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testi- 
monies."f And in Kzck. 18 : 28, the word of God is, " Eecauee he con- 
sidereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath com- 
mittud, ho shall surely live, ho shall not die." A person addicted to 
evil habits of any kind must consider his wickedness and turn away 
from it, confessing the particular sin or sins of which he has been guilty, 
or remain an impenitent and condemned sinner. God'a command to 
every transgressor is, " Put away the evil of your doings from before 
mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well."| The human mind is 
incapable of exer'>i3ing repentance towards God, while it remains the 
slave of evil propensities and habits. Just here is the point where I 
am afraid many persons permit themselves to continue in error, and to 
be guilty of gross practical inconsistency. It is an easy thing, my 
brethren, to 'pray^ compared with what it is to repent; an easy thing to 
say, " Lord, we confess that we are sinners," or, '< Lord, forgive 

* For tbU line of thought, anj Illustration of tbo troth contained in tbo text, I am indebted to 
Dr. Skinner's " Priaobino ano Hearino," Chap. viil. " Ilovr to Repent," 

tPs. 119:69. Jl8. 1:16, 17. 



our sins," compared with what it is to become thoroughly acquainted 
with ourselves J to obtain a knowledge of our mental delusions and 
erroneous opinions; to judge with honest impartiality of the rectitude 
or sinfulness of our cherished principles and mode of life ; and to ac- 
knowledge the particular offenses with which we stand chargeable before 
God. Now it is to be feared that there is a large amount of spurious 
repentance in our country at the present time ; — i-epentance of a general 
character — repentance that has no reference to any sin in particular. 
Repentance of that kind, I believe, is just no repentance at all. We in 
this country have done something which has displeased God. There is 
something wrong in the land, and the Almighty is chastising us severely 
because it has not been repented of, and corrected, and he will con- 
tinue to chastise us, until it has been repented of. 

And now to the point. The rebels are wrong in principle. The Gov- 
ernment is right in principle. Why then is the rebellion not suppressed, 
and this terrible and desolating war brought to an end ? This is the 
question which, I doubt not, presses itself upon the mind of every re- 
flecting person. 

The rebels are wrong, I have said. They are acting criminally ia 
the sight of God. Why ? Because they had no sufficient reason for 
commencing the rebellion ; for ignoring the Constitution of the country; 
for violating the sacred oaths which the leaders in the enterprise had 
taken to maintain the Union; for attempting to break up what they had 
been in the habit of calling "the best government on earth," and to 
tear a strong, free and prosperous nation into fragments. It is well 
known that the scheme was devised and pushed forward, uot by the 
wisest, most sober and patriotic men of the South, but by a compara- 
tively small clique of hotheaded fanatics, who were filled with an un- 
reasoning prejudice, or rather with a furious hatred of the free States, 
and the sentiments and institutions of freedom. The wiser statesmen 
of the South opposed them. The ministers of religion were opposed 
to their mad scheme. The great mass of sober-minded Christian people 
in the slave States detested the doctrines of secession and the application 
of them. The more sagacious men of the South viewed the matter as 
Mr. BoYCE, of South Carolina, did, who declared, in an address to the 
people of that State, ** Such is the intensity of my conviction on the sub- 
ject that if secession should take place, of which I have no idea, for I 
cannot believe in such stupendous madness, I should consider the insti- 
tution of slavery as doomed, and that the great God in our blindness 
has made us the instrument of its destruction." Mr. Stephens, now 



9 

the Vice President of tte rebel confederacy, delivered a speech before 
the Georgia Legislature, after the result of the Presidential election of 
1860 had been made known, and it was decided that Mr. Lincoln was 
lobe the next President, and in answer to the question, whether the South- 
ern States should secede or not, he said, ** My countrymen, I tell you 
frankly, candidly, and earnestly, that I do not think that they ought." 
He also said, "That this government of our fathers, with all its defects, 
comes nearer to the objects of all good governments than any other on 
the face of the earth, is my settled conviction. * * * Have we not, 
at the South, as well as the North, grown great, prosperous and happy 
under its operation?" After the secession ordinance had been some- 
how carried through in Georgia, the Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel^ 
a leading paper in that State, said, " We know, as well as any one living, 
that the whole movemeat for secession, and the formation of a new gov* 
ernment, so far at least as Georgia is concerned, proceeded only on a 
quasi consent of the people, and was pushed through, under circum- 
stances of great excitement and frenay, by a fictitious majority." You 
recollect how it was in Virginia: and so in every State that went into 
the movement, with the exception perhaps of South Carolina, the same 
lawless and violent precipitancy was employed, and the fearful step taken, 
contrary to the judgment of all the more sober and thoughtful of the 
people. 

The secession movement was, we thus see, begun and carried through 
by wild and reckless men. Many, if not all, of these men, too, were 
perjured traitors, turning with the whole violence of their passionate 
natures against a Government, which had never injured a hair of their 
heads; but which, on the other hand, had been an unspeakable blessing 
to them, and to all, except the poor colored people. When a number 
of States had thus l^ecn dragged, as it were by main force, into the 
secession movement, the mass of the people in those States, tamely sub- 
mitting to what their judgment and conscience condemned as wrong, 
we saw a fulfilment of that prophecy which was made by William 
PiNCKNEY, the great orator of Maryland, in a speech delivered by him 
ill the ^laryland House of Delegates in 1789, viz : that slavery would one 
day destroy reverence for liberty in the South, and render the people of the 
slave States unfit for self-government. Then came the announcement, made 
by the Vice President of the confederation, that the notions, entertained 
at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and of the laying of the 
foundations of the Government, with respect to slavery being an evil which 
would soon pass away, were incorrect, and that now they were about to 

2 



10 

found a government, the corner-stone of wliieli should be the perpetual 
enslavement of the African race. What an insult was this to the God 
of heaven, " who hath made of one blood all nations for to dwell on all 
the face of the earth !" What an insult to our common humanity ! And 
what a shock to those sentiments of human emancipation and progress,, 
which are prevalent in all civilized countries in the present age, and 
for which men are indebted to the glorious gospel of the Son of God ! 

Here then is an armed rebellio'n against a Government against which 
not one charge could be brought, or was brought ; a rebellion inaugura- 
ted for the avowed purpose of perpetuating the enslavement of an inno- 
cent and unfortunate race of our fellow-men ; a rebellion founded not upon 
reason and justice, but upon prejudice and passion, begun with perjury 
and treason, heinous crimes against God and the nation ; and a rebellion 
conducted with barbarous atrocity, in many instances unparalleled in the 
annals of savage warfare ; and especially with a fiend-like hatred and 
cruelty towards the colored men, who have nobly volunteered to fight 
and die for the Country which had never shown any particular friend- 
ship for them. Is such a rebellion right in the sight of God ? Is it 
not, in view of its origin and character, and in view of the untold mise- 
ries it has brought upon the country — is it not " the sum of all vil- 
lainies," and, next to the crucifixion of the Son of God, the very climax, 
of human crimes ? 

And was not the Government of the United States right in resisting 
Buch a rebellion? Could the Government have done otherwise than 
rise, in its might and majesty, to crush such a rebellion ? What would 
the people of this country — what would the generations that are to 
come after us have said of the President of the United Stales, who had 
solemnly sworn to defend the Constitution, maintain the integrity of the- 
Union, and oppose all foreign or domestic foes, if he had not called 
out the military forces of the nation to put down such a revolt ? What 
does the world think of James Buchanan, the sworn defender of the 
Constitution, and Protector of the United States, who made no effort 
to check the treasonable enterprise in its beginnings ? Has not General 
Jackson been lauded by all patriots — was he not lauded to the skies by 
the people of the South themselves — for the determined stand he took 
against this rebellion in its incipient stages thirty years ago, and for his 
expressed determination to hang as traitors those who were fomenting 
treason and rebellion, if they did not cease ? Is not the Government a 
good and beneficent one — the best on earth, so far as the white race is 
concerned? Did it ever oppress, or in any way injure the white people 



11 

of the South ? Were they deprived of their just share of the honors 
and emoluments of office under the National Government ? Did they 
not almost ow7i the Government from the beginning down to 1S60 ? 
Did they not thrive and prosper under it ? Mr. Stephens says they 
did. How would any other government under heaven act in similar 
circumstances ? And although there are those in the loyal States who 
find fault with the Government for making efforts to maintain its 
authority, what a mighty hue and cry these same persons would have 
raised against the President, if he had made no effort to punish treason 
and to preserve the Union ! The authorities of the United States have 
only done their duty in putting forth the exertions they have, to sup- 
press the rebellion, and to restore law, order and peace in all the land. 
The stand taken by the Government is in accordance with the word of 
God, which teaches us the nature and design of civil government. It 
is required by the Constitution of the United States, and the solemn 
oath which the authorities have taken. And it is demanded by the wel- 
fare of the people of the United States — the aristocratic slaveholders, 
who stirred up the rebellion, and who imagined that their pecuniary 
interest in slavery required a breaking up of the Government, consti- 
tuting but a small fraction of the thirty millions of people in our 
country. 

If then the secessionists be wrong, and if the Government be right, 
in principle, why is the rebellion not suppressed, and peace restored to 
our unhappy country ? I will attempt an answer to this question in 
the light thrown upon the subject by the word of God. It is not for 
me to give the military reasons for failure thus far. I leave that to 
the man of military science. Neither do I undertake to solve the 
political questions which may be connected with this subject. I leave 
that for the statesman. But as a humble minister of God's Word, I 
wish to call your attention to the great and simple principles on which 
God acts in dealing with nations, as with individuals, — principles which 
lie back of military successes or revcr.'^es, and political fluctuations, — 
principles which give shape and character to passijig events, — princi- 
ples, therefore, which it would be well for our statesmen and military 
leaders to study, and to keep in view in all their movements. 

God is angry with us as a nation, and not with the rebellious portion 
of the people only. Were we an upright and innocent people, and the 
rebels the only sinners in the land, we may believe that God would 
long ere this have given to the Government complete success. But, ah, 
my friends, it is far otherwise. This whole nation has sinned. Show 



12 

me the community, the family, the individual that is free from guilt. 
I need hardly remind you of the long, dark catalogue of sins which 
prevail, and have long prevailed among us — the self-conceit, the arro- 
gance, the boastfulness, which have characterized us, and drawn upon 
us the sharp criticisms of intelligent foreigners, who have sojourned in 
this country. You know how the Sabbath is desecrated by increasing 
numbers of the people, and the House of God forsaken by many of 
those whose fathers feared God, and reverenced his sanctuary. As a 
consequence, the spirit of skepticism is spreading ; the Christian train- 
ing of the young neglected ; profanity and blasphemy are becoming 
fearfully common ; prostitution, that abominable thing which the God 
of purity abhors, is increasing ; and drinking, debauchery and gambling 
are spreading, with recklessness of life and blood-thirstiness of spirit. 
There, too, is a shameful and most destructive liquor traffic, laying its 
snares at every corner ; casting its baits in every direction ; seeking to 
destroy the youth and flower of the nation ; disregarding all laws, 
human and divine; defying public sentiment; fattening on the ruined 
bodies and souls of men ; growing richer, stronger and more daring 
every day; and looking forward, I believe, to the day when it shall be 
the ruling power in the land, controlling the ballot-box, and lording it 
over this people, no less imperiously, and far more destructively than 
ever the slave-power did, in its palmiest days. And as for the preva- 
lence of party-spirit, it has been the bane of the Republic. The bigoted 
adherence to mere party organizations, and the blind following of party 
leaders, of which so many of our people are guilty, must be as offensive 
to God, as it is discreditable to the manhood of the nation, and danger- 
ous to the liberties of the country. 

In the inordinate thirst for wealth, which has seized our people ; in 
the headlong race for riches which Americans are running ; in the ex- 
penditure of wealth after it has been acquired, for purposes of silly dis- 
play or sensual gratification ; — there has been an almost utter disregard 
of the principles, precepts and warnings of the Bible. The disposition 
evinced by growing numbers of our people, to idolize wealth, and to 
honor wealthy men, because they are wealthy, to admire successful 
speculators, and to honor sharpers who have grown rich, — this is as un- 
worthy and contemptible, as it is opposed to God's will and the nation's 
welfare. As an outworking of this same spirit, the poor and humble, 
however virtuous and worthy they may be, are overlooked and neglect- 
ed. In the arrangements made for public religious worship, the fas- 
tidious tastes of the rich and fashionable are consulted, to the 
neglect and exclusion of the humbler classes in society, and the 



13 

consequence has been the estrangement from the House of their God, 
of large and increasing numbers of the poor. This is a sin which must 
be specially ofiFensive in the sight of Heaven, because the Scriptures 
teach us that it is chiefly among the poor that God finds his chosen 
ones ; and our Saviour has taught us that the poor must have the Gospel 
preached to them. Ah, my friends, when the ignorance and depravity 
of the neglected classes begin to break out, on a large scale, as in the 
I New York riots of last summer, as we may justly fear will be the case 
if the neglect is continued, what a terrible revenge they may take upon 
those who might have aided, elevated and saved them, but did not ! 

Above all ought we this day to confess and bewail before God, our 
complicity with the system of slavery — our endorsement and encourage- 
ment of that great wrong by our political associations, our party votes, 
and by the silence of our ministers, churches and ecclesiastical assem- 
blies, at a time, when to have spoken out firmly, but kindly, might have 
done some good ; yea, when it might have prevented our Southern 
people from rushing into the extreme opinions and violent prejudices 
which landed them at length in this awful rebellion. Here is one great 
national sin, which, in the belief of many of the wisest and best of our 
people, is the immediate occasion of our present calamities. From the 
long-continued silence of most of the pulpits and churches of the free 
States, on the subject of slavery, the fomenters of the rebellion could 
scarcely have anticipated a strong opposition in the North to their 
daring and criminal enterprise. And yet the event has proved that the 
national conscience was not utterly debauched, but that there was an 
under-current of principle and feeling in the heart of the nation, which 
would not permit, and with God's help and blessing, never will permit, 
either the extension of slavery in the United States, or the breaking up 
of the national Government. 

Out of this guilty and miserable complicity with slavery, various 
other sins have grown, such as an unwillingness to hear the truth ; a 
dislike lor free discussion ; a stupid clinging to old blind prejudices ; 
and a bigoted adherence to party ; and, connected with it, a spirit of 
caste — a despising and hating of the African race, which is wholly in- 
consistent with the humane and philanthropic principles of the Chris- 
tian religion. In this way not only has the political or public sentiment 
of the country been perverted, but the Christianity of the nation has 
been corrupted. Slavery has made cowards of many ministers, and 
hypocrites of many professors of religion. The Gospel has not been 
fully preached, nor practically and faithfully applied to prevailing sins, 
except in rare instances. 



14 



And arc we repenting of these sins, and of all our sins ? We are 
professedly a Christian people. The requirements of the Bible are 
simple and clear. The path of duty is plain. When God's judgments 
are abroad in the land, the people must learn righteousness, or continue 
to be scourged. God has risen up in his just and holy indignation, and 
he is expressing his abhorrence of the spirit and conduct of the Ameri- 
can people, during these long, dark years of sin and shame. The rod of 
his chastisement is laid with severity upon the back of this nation. He 
is giving us a very bitter cup to drink. A civil war— the worst of wars, 
and the sorest of God's scourges— is raging in the land of Washington 
and Franklin. Should the Euler of Nations permit the armie^s of 
treason and rebellion to succeed, our national life will be destroyed, with 
our national unity. Om prestige and influence among the nations; our 
honor and good name, will be lost. Civil and religious liberty will have 
received a death-wound in the house of its friends. The Democratic 
form of government will have proved a failure. Is it not for this reason 
that all the democrats of Europe sympathize with our Government, 
while the enemies of democracy favor the rebels ? Let the rebels suc- 
ceed, and the healthful influence of this free and prosperous nation 
over the nations of the Old World will have ceased; and while all 
hope, all spirit and life will have been crushed in the national heart, 
the hopes and expectations of millions of the poor and of the oppressed 
in other lands, will have been blasted. Oh, my friends, it is not only 
a great and beneficent government that is in peril, but the countless 
blessings of our daily social life in a free country are all in jeopardy. 
The institutions of religion, of benevolence, of education, will all be 
irretrievably injured by the success of the rebellion. For its avowed 
design is to establish, on the ruins of the American Kepublic, a govern- 
ment which shall have the principle of oppression for its chief "Corner- 
stone. There are those among the rebel leaders, we know, who favor 
the enslavement of the poor white laborer, as well as of the poor black 
man. The avowed principle of some of them is, that labor should he- 
long to capital. The success of such an enterprise, you may depend 
upon it, cannot be followed by God's blessing, and by peace and pros- 
perity. There will necessarily be an "irrepressible conflict" between 
the principles of freedom and slavery ; a ceaseless struggle between 
two incompatible forms of civilization for the possession of this con- 
tinent. In such a state of things, what hope can we entertain for re- 
ligion, for popular education, for the progress of knowledge and art, 
for the elevation and improvement of the people, in the future history 



IS 

of this continent ? Will there, can there be anything but confusion andi 
strife, wars and rumors of wars, to the destruction of all the highest; 
and holiest interests of the nation ? Oh, how utterly regardless of the 
principles of Christianity, of the teachings and admonitions of history, 
and of the Christian sentiment of the world, are those men who have 
undertaken such a mad and desperate enterprise in this age of the 
world's history ! How many precious lives of noble men — the manliest 
and bravest of our country — are sacrificed ! How are our cities and our* 
fields drained of their laborers ! What heart-rendinfj scenes are wit- 
nessed on battle-fields and in hospitals ! What bereavement and woe in 
innumerable households ! What broken family circles and broken 
hearts! What desolated firesides! What houseless and homeless 
families ! What fears and anxieties, in every patriot's breast, in respect 
to the future of our beloved country — the home of our children ! By 
these calamities, the Almighty Ruler of Nations is calling upon the 
American people to repent of their manifold transgressions, as clearly 
and loudly as ever he called the Israelites to repentance, by the mouth 
of his holy prophet. And are we repenting? I ask again. I think 
not. Are the vices which have long prevailed, now being abandoned ? 
Are they not increasing ? Has party spirit been destroyed, by the 
union of all parties, to put down a wicked rebellion ? For awhile* 
good men hoped that the fatal spell had been broken by the fearful- 
peril of the country, but of late, alas ! the fiend of party-spirit has 
been at work, and the spectacle is presented, before High Heaven and 
the wondering nations of the earth, of a great people contending as to 
which of two parties shall have control of the Government, and that 
even while a powerful rebellion is in progress, and it is yet undecided 
whether wo are to have a Government for either party to control. 

Has the thirst for wealth been (luenched by suffering, and all desire 
to grow rich been swallowed up and lost in noble, patriotic zeal for 
saving the Government, and maintaining the nation's life and honor ? 
Alas, no ! The abominable and debasing passion for riches has been 
excited into unprecedented intensity by the opportunities afforded in a 
time of war. All patriotism, all honor, all manliness, are sacrificed by 
many at the altar of avarice. We see those bearing the likeness of 
men, but filled with the spirit of the devil, who plunder their Govern- 
ment, even when it is struggling for existence, and rob the poor sol- 
diers, and impoverish the families of those who are laying down their 
lives for the country. Look at the unseemly and disgusting exhibition 
of their ill-gotten and blood-staiuod riches, made by the "shoddy 



16 



aristocracy"— by those who have grown rich at the expense of their 
bleeding country. And see, all over these free States, our people, who 
ought, as plain republicans and true democrats, to be imitatin'o- the 
noble men and women of the Revolution— ought to bo stud^yino- 
economy, and denying themselves, each day, that they may help to save 
the country— see them imitating the senseless and shameless shoddy 
gentry m extravagant, luxurious and unseemly styles of dressino- and 
living ! ° 

And are we sincerely repenting of our long silence and complicity 
With slavery, and our unchristian hatred of the unoffending and uufor^ 
tunate African race ? I fear not. Are there not many peo^'ple who are 
still unwilling to hear one word upon that subject— who declare openly 
that they dislike the negro, and approve of his being held in slavery ? 
Are there not many more who find it convenient at the present time to 
range themselves with the popular party, who, in reality, are as much 
opposed to hearing one word from the pulpit against slavery, or in be- 
half of the despised and abused African, as they were before God took 
us in hand to punish us for this very sin ;-just as much opposed to 
free and full discussion as they ever were? There are some of you 
Who hear me to-day, who are wishing that I would have less to say of 
slavery and the negro. You are saying to yourselves, -That is a subject 
we cannot bear." Why, my countrymen, truth and liberty court free 
discussion. The Gospel of Christ calls for it. The improvement of 
the condition of mankind imperatively demands it. But tyranny error 
and cowardice dread free discussion above all things. We are sufferino- 
untold miseries in this land, to-day, for having violated, for thirty 
shameful years, our cardinal principle-^the great Christian and demo- 
cratic principle-of free discussion, in the pulpit, and through the 
press. And yet there are people enough who shrink from and dread 
that very thing which God loves, and without which, truth will leave 
us, and liberty must die. 

Are we repenting ? I think not. It is true that many confess, in a 
cold and general way, "We are sinners," or, "There are many things that 
are wrong among us." But, ah, how few who come up manfully to the 
truth and acknowledge their offense, and who frame their doings to turn 
unto God How few, even among professors of religion, who manifest 
any deep feehng, any religious concern and anxiety, about our dear 
country lou know how many forsake the House of God: how many 
never think of entering a prayer-meeting, even if it be called for 
special prayer in behalf of the country; how family religion is nec^lect- 



17 

ed, and secret prayer restrained, by multitudes. It is not to be won- 
dered at, that the scourge is continued, and that we are still in peril 
and distress. With our superior numbers and resources, and with a 
righteous cause, how soon and how easily the nation could crush the 
rebellion, if only we, as a people, would frame our doings to turn uuto 
God — if only this people would acknowledge their offense, and seek His 
face. 

It is the professors of religion in our country who must take the lead 
in this matter. Repentance must begin at the house of God. The 
Lord deals more especially and directly with His church. It is because 
His people have been guilty of sin and have disgraced His holy name, 
that He is chastising us. Brethren, it is the church of the living GrOD 
that is called to awake and arise, to shake herself from the dust, to put 
on her strength, and to come up to the help of the Lord — to the help 
of the Lord against the mighty. The great want of our country, at 
this moment, is repentance on the part of Christians. I do not fear as 
much for my country, from all the combined hosts of the rebellion, as I 
do from the apathy of God's people. We must turn unto God, or con- 
tinue to be chastened and killed all the day long. It would neither be 
wise nor merciful in God, with reverence I say it, to send victory and 
success to a Christian people, while they are living in sin, and cherish- 
ing a proud, self-confident and impenitent spirit. As long as His people 
are in this condition, the wisest and best thing He can do for them is 
to afflict them. This is Bible truth. This is a principle of God's 
moral government. This is the way He has always dealt with His people. 

And now you see, I trust, why it is, according to Christian principles, 
that the rebellion has not been suppressed, and peace and prospeiity 
restored to our land — even while the Government is stronger than the 
confederacy, and our cause is just, and the rebellion is a crime against 
God and mankind. Victory icould he no hlessinr; to us in our present 
moral condition. Triumphant success might, and if the present world- 
liness and unbelief of the church, and ungodliness of the people gen- 
erally, were to continue, it tcould prove destructive to the church and 
nation. God is wise and good. lie knows how to govern nations, and 
how to preserve His church from destruction. Oh, my countrymen, 
there is only one alternative before you. You must turn unto God, or 
continue to suffer. You may call upon the Almighty for help. You 
may raise vast armies. You may loan hundreds of millions of money 
to the Government. But so long as you cling to your sins, your 
troubles will be continued. If God had no church in this land, He 



18 

would probably let us aloue-. But so long as wo are a Christian people, 
God will continue calling vjs to repentance, and scourging us till we do 
repent. The strictness with which God is judging this nation, is a dis- 
eipline of mercy, we may believe. He is dealing with iis as he dealt 
with Israel of old. "You only have I known of all the nations of the 
earth ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."* 

My Christian brethren, perhaps there never was, since the earth was 
made, a time when existing calamities and impending perils called so 
loudly upon a people to hujuble themselves before God, as just now 
in our own beloved country. It is to be hoped that the heart of this 
people may begin to realize this to-day, and to bow in repentance before 
the throne of God. For we may rest assured that the God of our 
fathers has not come to our deliverance, because we have not yet turned 
unto him ; and that he will continue to hide himself from us, till we 
acknowledge our offense, and seek his face. If we continue impeni- 
tent, He will continue to afflict us. The rebels are the rod of scourging 
He holds in his hand, and by means of which He woiild chasten us for 
©ur good. If we prove obstiiiately impenitent. He may allow the fierce 
and vengeful enemies of their country and of liberty to gain the 
supremacy for a period — that we, through a more bitter experience of 
humiliation and suffering than any we have yet tasted, may at last be 
brought humbled, penitent and purified to his feet. For he has declared 
of those who are his erring and disobedieat people, "la their afflictioa 
ttey will seek me early." 



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